Wakefield Trinity man believes it is ‘criminal’ that this star has not been included in Shaun Wane’s England squad

When Shaun Wane named his England training squad yesterday, a few eyebrows were raised concerning the absentees.

Number one, of course, was that there was no Jake Connor – who just last week assisted six tries and scored one himself against the Salford Red Devils.

There was, however, another quite surprising absentee – Tom Johnstone.

The Wakefield Trinity winger is now at full fitness and more than raring to go, having played a key role for the West Yorkshire club so far in 2022.

However, he too has been overlooked by Wane and for Johnstone’s teammate – Liam Kay – he should have been a shoo-in.

Kay posted on his Instagram story: “No @TomJohnstone1 criminal.”

Shaun Wane’s England Training Squad in full:

John Bateman (Wigan Warriors)
Daryl Clark (Warrington Wolves)
Mike Cooper (Warrington Wolves)
Ben Currie (Warrington Wolves)
Thomas Davies (Catalans Dragons)
Lewis Dodd (St Helens)
Niall Evalds (Castleford Tigers)
Liam Farrell (Wigan Warriors)
Ryan Hall (Hull KR)
Zak Hardaker (Wigan Warriors)
Morgan Knowles (St Helens)
Kruise Leeming (Leeds Rhinos)
Matthew Lees (St Helens)
Jonny Lomax (St Helens)
Reece Lyne (Wakefield Trinity)
Jermaine McGillvary (Huddersfield Giants)
Paul McShane (Castleford Tigers)
Tommy Makinson (St Helens)
Liam Marshall (Wigan Warriors)
Harry Newman (Leeds Rhinos)
Mikolaj Oledzki (Leeds Rhinos)
Kai Pearce-Paul (Wigan Warriors)
Mark Percival (St Helens)
Stefan Ratchford (Warrington Wolves)
Dan Sarginson (Salford Red Devils)
Sam Tomkins (Catalans Dragons)
Alex Walmsley (St Helens)
Jake Wardle (Huddersfield Giants)
Jack Welsby (St Helens)
George Williams (Warrington Wolves)

Further England training sessions will take place in April, May, July and August.

Details of June’s mid-season international versus the Combined Nations All Stars will be announced on Friday 4 March.

England play Fiji in a World Cup warm-up match at Rochdale on Friday 7 October.

RLWC2021 begins on Saturday 15 October, with England versus Samoa at St James’s Park, Newcastle.